Not sure if this is a trade-related story, or just someone who happened to be a driver, but it does look like he was working at the time
Taxi driver blinded after thug smashed him in the eye with metal polehttps://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wale ... g-16251215Ali Begzada had intervened to protect a child when Noor Hussain brandished the pole and hit him in the face
Noor Hussain was jailed for 10 years (Image: South Wales Police/Wales Live)A taxi driver has been left blind in one eye after a man struck him in the face with a metal pole and ruptured his eyeball.
Ali Begzada had to have surgery but was told by doctors he will never regain the sight in his left eye and can no longer work to support his family.
“I am in pain 24 hours a day,” said the victim in a statement read out at Cardiff Crown Court .
Noor Hussain denied inflicting grievous bodily harm but was found guilty following a trial.
Roger Griffiths, prosecuting, said the incident happened on the evening of May 28 last year in Tudor Street in Riverside, Cardiff .
Mr Begzada was standing by his taxi, talking to a friend outside a kebab shop, when a group of boys arrived on bikes. One boy stayed outside with the bikes while the others went in.
The court head some bikes had gone missing from the home of one of the defendant’s friends and they went out to look for them.
Prosecutors said the men thought the bikes outside the kebab shop were the stolen ones and went to confront the boy. Mr Begzada saw the child was frightened and intervened.
The court heard Hussain returned to the car they arrived in then grabbed a metal pole and struck the victim in the face.
Mr Begzada described the pain as “like an electric shock” and said he could not remember much about the incident. Prosecutors said he was “completely in shock”.
Hussain immediately put the pole back in the car as people began to gather in the busy street. He was arrested and did not answer any questions in his police interview.
The court heard Hussain effectively “ruptured” the victim’s eyeball, blinding him in one eye.
Mr Begzada had surgery in hospital but the consultant concluded there was nothing more they could do to save his vision and the loss of sight is permanent.
The victim said his left eye used to be his stronger eye and the vision in his right has deteriorated further since the incident.
“My life has completely changed since the day I was assaulted,” said Mr Begzada.
He said he has worked in the UK for nearly 10 years, sending most of his earnings to his family in Afghanistan.
The victim said he has always worked hard and does not want to claim benefits but has struggled financially since the incident.
Mr Begzada said he is no longer able to work or socialise and described feeling like a prisoner at home.
“I get tired all the time,” he said. “At night the pain gets worse and I cannot sleep. My legs feel like they are melting. My doctor told me that is due to the head injury.”
The court heard he cannot use the bathroom alone as he suffers from blackouts and has to ask friends to help him.
“I am trying my best to be strong,” he added. “But I just do not know what to do. I am now completely blind in my left eye and my doctor told me this will never improve.”
Hussain, 42, from Amherst Street in Grangetown , grew up in Bangladesh and his barrister John Ryan said he was working hard to send money to his family there.
Mr Ryan said his client had no previous convictions and drew the judge’s attention to a number of positive character references.
He argued the attack was not premeditated, adding: “It was a fast-moving incident that was over in a second.”
In her sentencing remarks, Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke said: “The consequences of that one blow for Mr Begzada have been devastating.
“You have caused this man permanent disability. He did nothing to bring this upon himself.”
Hussain was jailed for 10 years and must serve half of that in custody before being released on licence.
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